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His anti-discrimination stance on some issues has surprised homosexuals in the wake of last month's church protest

Gay groups and the head of the Hong Kong Catholic Church met yesterday in the wake of a controversial protest last month by homosexual activists during Sunday Mass in the Caine Road cathedral.

Although Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun was last night unswayed by arguments in favour of the legalisation of gay marriage, the groups said they were surprised to find 'common ground'.

To Chung, chairman of gay rights group the Chi Heng Foundation, said: 'We have more common ground than I thought. I thought he was going to say that all things homosexual are wrong, like all homosexuals will go to Hell. But his line is actually drawn more loosely than I thought.'

Seven gay rights organisations met the bishop at the Catholic Diocese Centre in the first meeting of its kind.

'We find it pretty difficult to support that,' Bishop Zen said of gay marriages.

'There's still much discrimination besides this problem of legalisation of the union ... I think we have much to do also with civic education, and still there's no law against sexual-tendency discrimination. I think we can still work on that.'

The bishop pointed out that there was no legislation to protect homosexuals against discrimination in the areas of housing and employment. Both sides have agreed to talk again, although a date has not been set.

Frontier legislator Cyd Ho Sau-lan, who mediated at last night's session, said equal opportunities legislation would be the topic for the next meeting.

'I think the most important thing is to open the door of communication,' Ms Ho said.

Mr To stressed that religion was only a small part of Hong Kong society and that the clergy's position should not sway the government on gay-rights legislation.

'Many people might have a lot of negative stereotypes,' he said. 'That is why we need to communicate and break those stereotypes and eliminate discrimination.'

Participants of the two-hour meeting last night included the Chi Heng Foundation, Over the Rainbow, and Rainbow Action. Representatives from each group had five minutes to voice their concerns, to which the bishop responded. The rest of the hour was open to discussion.

Eight members of Rainbow Action forced their way to the altar in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on August 17 after the Catholic Church published an article in its weekly newspaper in support of the Vatican's denunciation of same-sex marriages as deviant and immoral. They chanted slogans and distributed flyers to parishioners.

Mr To said gay groups meet regularly with government officials, including Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping.



Common ground for gays and Bishop Zen